If you claim that you’re not excited for the next Avatar movie, The Way of the Water, you’re probably lying. Some of you may truly not be, but we need to be real here. That first movie didn’t become the highest grossing movie of all time for no reason. Yes, you can say it’s just Dances with Wolves with blue people all you want because it’s pretty accurate. But no matter how many ways you try to criticize it, the one thing that everyone needs to agree on is its director’s ability to make box office hits. If you ask me, Avatar can only work when the great James Cameron is helming it. That’s why I’m one of those people who is very excited for The Way of the Water. Oh yes, all the haters will probably see it as well, whether they want to admit it or not.
Now let’s talk more about James Cameron and his future with the franchise. According to him, there are many sequels to come after The Way of the Water. You know, like ten or twelve. But seriously, as much as we all giggle at the idea, Cameron is dead serious about making more Avatar movies. Last I checked, he is planning on four more. Given on how long we have waited for this next one, I’m sure we’ll be waiting another ten or fifteen years for the next Avatar sequel. Okay, so even I’ll admit, The Way of the Water probably could have been released about five years ago. Then again, I kind of want to eat my words after I see the movie. If James Cameron thinks he needed all that time to make the best sequel possible, then I think we should take his word for it.
But what happens after those next four sequels? Well, in the words of James Cameron himself, he’s actually unsure if he’ll be the director helming those movies. During an interview with Empire, Cameron explained that he isn’t too confident about continuing to direct more Avatar movies after the sequels. He went on further, emphasizing on how time-consuming it was working on just one movie. He claims he has ideas for other projects and would like to commit to those. That would be pretty hard to do if he’s spending all of this time working on more Avatar movies.
Personally, I think there are several ways to look at this. James Cameron did say he was open to the idea of letting another director take over for him. However, I do think he is committed to at least making the next three or four sequels he was planning to make for years. He knew he was committed to this way back when he was working on the first Avatar. It’s an incredibly ambitious plan, even for a director of his caliber. I do think it’s reasonable to believe that he can feel burnt out from working on these movies for so long. If that’s the case, then it’s likely he’ll let another director carry the burden.
What I took from the interview is that he’ll more than likely commit to the Avatar sequels he planned. And after that, we’ll probably see a lot of spin-offs or prequels. Those are the things that will probably not have James Cameron attached to them. We all know Avatar is too big of a movie to not have those multiple spin-offs. When they come around, James Cameron will likely have some type of involvement in them, but he can’t direct everything. With everything this man has given us, you better believe he has more ideas to share.
As I said earlier, Avatar can only work with James Cameron. That is why I believe he’ll likely stick around for the next few sequels, or at least the ones he has already planned. Granted, he could always change his mind, given the depth of his commitment to the sequels. He has been vocally adamant about taking the time he needed to make The Way of the Water right. Just by seeing the trailer, I can already tell the time he has spent has been worth it. In other words, he showed us a lot of pretty shots of the world of Pandora and an updated look on the CGI. Scratch that, they are beautiful shots.
As beautiful as it looks, that doesn’t mean the story will be any better than the first. The first Avatar had a story we’ve all seen before, but it didn’t really matter, because it was still a very cool science fiction movie. Seriously, that third act was just spectacular. If The Way of the Water can top that, then I don’t see how James Cameron can just move on from his planned sequels. Would he be willing to let another director work with his ideas? I somehow doubt that, because at that point, his ideas would just be an outline. If James Cameron comes up with the idea, then he should be the one to execute it.
When it comes to the inevitable spin-offs, we’ll be seeing more directors and writers add their own ideas to the franchise. If they collaborate with James Cameron, he’ll either tell them he likes it or he doesn’t. The best he could do is give some creative advice for any kind of Avatar spin-offs. Whether or not those new directors choose to take his advice is entirely up to them. I’ll watch them and whatever Cameron himself wants to add to his franchise. This is a big universe and he’ll likely want someone to help expand it.
What are your thoughts, Avatar fans? Do you think more Avatar sequels can work with or without James Cameron? I think he needs to execute his own ideas if he wants the franchise to stay relevant. Whatever comes afterwards will probably have little to do with the characters he has created. For a universe that is as creative and as vast as Avatar, you know there’s more to see.
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